Cosmology Beyond the Analytic Lamppost (CoBALt)

Primordial correlations produced in the early inflationary Universe are now within experimental reach and offer a unique window into physics at high energies and on curved spacetime. This 3-week program will capitalise on recently developed numerical algorithms and machine learning techniques to improve our understanding and analysis of these cosmological signals beyond conventional perturbation theory. It will bring together international experts from different niches to share ideas and recent progress, forge new collaborations and set the next targets for this rapidly growing community. The first week will feature lectures and hands-on tutorials aimed at PhD students and newcomers to the field, providing a pedagogical introduction to the key open problems and how to use the numerical tools currently available. The second and third weeks will be of workshop type.

Key questions to be addressed

1. How to extract observable correlation functions from inflationary mechanisms that are not captured by traditional perturbative approaches?

2. How to go beyond n-point correlators and perform an optimal field-level inference of cosmological parameters (including primordial non-Gaussianity)?

3. How to model the tail of the underlying probability distribution and characterise rare events such as the formation of primordial black holes?

4. How to characterise the space of consistent field theories in cosmology and what constraints this places on inflationary phenomenology?